Do all Veterans get benefits? (2023)

Many People have this question in their mind about do all veterans get benefits.

I help Veterans, their spouses, and surviving spouses of Veterans learn about community resources and ways to pay for long-term care.

The Drop Zone is an event that Congressman Andy Biggs holds annually.

This year the veteran’s event was held on Saturday, April 24, 2022, in Chandler, Arizona.

Congressman Andy Biggs is a staunch supporter of both the military and veterans. The Drop Zone event is just one of the many ways he demonstrates his support.

The owner of Care Funding Solutions and founder of The Arizona Care Alliance, Steve Dabbs, a VA Accredited Claims Agent, Certified Medicaid Planner, and Accredited Investment Fiduciary, were present, among more than 50 organizations with information tables at the event.

These included state and federal government agencies, like the Veterans Administration, the Office of the Arizona Attorney General, and the Arizona Department of Economic Security, as well as Veteran support organizations, community non-profit support agencies, and for-profit companies.

One business leader who was present was Medicare expert John Null, owner of Senior Advisors of the East Valley. John is an active community leader who specializes in educating seniors on Medicare and Medicare supplement plans.

Also present was Kerri Ann Ronquist, owner of “All About You Senior Services,” which helps seniors find appropriate long-term care services both within and outside the home. She is also a great resource for all things surrounding long-term care and navigating all care options.

Kerri Ann Ronquist is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Placement and Referral Specialist, Certified Senior Advisor®, and Board-Certified Patient Advocate. Based on all her qualifications, it is certainly no surprise that Congressman Biggs invited her company to participate.

Steve Dabbs had this to say about the event: This is my fourth year participating in the Drop Zone Event held by Congressman Andy Biggs. I always feel honoured to be invited to participate in this event as an exhibitor.

As a Navy Vietnam veteran, I have a lot in common with the attendees and my fellow veterans and enjoy interacting with them.

I love to tease and joke with the Air Force vets when the opportunity presents itself. At the event, a veteran wearing an Air Force ball cap came up to me. I told him he could qualify for the Veterans Pension Benefit with Aid and Attendance. He said, “I don’t qualify.”

I immediately responded, “Why – because you were in the Air Force, not the Navy?” He laughed and said that he was never in Vietnam during the war. He was stationed stateside during the war.

A common misconception is that you must have been in the war zone to qualify for Veterans Pension with Aid and Attendance.

A woman in attendance came up to my table and inquired about the Veterans Pension benefit. She explained that her husband was a veteran but was in the Navy reserves. Someone had told her that since he was only in the Navy reserves, he didn’t qualify.

I asked her whether he had any active duty. She said yes – for two years, from 1973 to 1975. They lived in San Diego during that time.

I explained that misinformation is often given about the VA Pension benefit. The person who misinformed her had confused “Reserve Duty and only Active Duty for Training,” which does not qualify, with “Reserve Duty with some Active Duty.” To qualify, you only need 90 days of activity duty with one day during the war, but it must be deemed active duty, not active duty for training. 

This can be confusing. The key is what is on the veteran’s DD-214 / Discharge papers. If it says “active duty,” you qualify. If it says “active duty for training or ACDUTRA,” you don’t.

She was so happy to learn that her husband could qualify after all. Many veterans asked this question about do all veterans get benefits.

Another lady came by my table with a friend and told me she was married to a Korean Veteran who had passed away last year. Then she told me she didn’t qualify because she wasn’t married to her now-deceased husband when he was in the military. They had gotten married a few years after he got out.

I explained that the rule is simple: you have to be married at the time of the veteran’s death and did not remarry after they passed.  I told her she could qualify if all other VA Pension qualification requirements were met.

I love to share information on the Veterans Pension program, a long-term care program for wartime veterans. 

The 2022 VA Pension benefits can currently provide up to $2,431 per month for a married Veteran, $2,050 for a single veteran, and $1,318 for a Surviving Spouse of a veteran. There is even a benefit of $1,600 per month for a living spouse of a veteran.

The qualification requirements are simple. I call them “The 3Ms to Veterans Pension Qualification.” These are:

• M1: Military Service: You must have had 90 days of active duty, including at least one day during a war period. You do not have to have been in a war zone to be eligible.
• M2: Medical Need: You must need the assistance of another individual with at least two activities of daily living.
• M3: Money: Both the Veteran’s assets and income must be below the “Bright-Line limit.”

See here for complete details on the qualification requirements.

There is no doubt that the Veterans Pension with Aid and Attendance is a tremendous veteran benefit.

Nonetheless, as wonderful as it may be, it may not be enough to cover the cost of a veteran’s or surviving spouse’s long-term care. In Arizona today, the average cost of assisted living is over $4,500, and the average nursing home cost is over $9,000 per month.

Just last week, the daughter of a client that I am helping told me that every nursing home is telling her that due to her father’s level of care, the cost is over $11,000 per month—an exorbitant amount of money.

Because the most a veteran can receive is $2,431 per month, I also provide information about the Arizona Medicaid ALTCS benefits at the event.  

Arizona Medicaid ALTCS is vital to both wartime vets, because of the high cost of assisted living today, and to the non-wartime vets, because they are not eligible for the Veterans Pension benefit  with Aid and Attendance. There was a nearly nine-and-a-half-year gap between the end of the Korean War and the start of the Vietnam War, so peacetime veterans during that period are not eligible for the Veteran Pension with Aid and Attendance benefit.

There are differences in the rules to qualify financially and medically between the Veterans Pension with Aid and Attendance and the Arizona Medi1caid ALTCS benefit program.

To qualify financially for the VA Pension benefit, the largest amount of countable assets a person can have is $138,489, whether single or married. Thus, with the VA Pension, both income and assets combined cannot exceed $138,489. This is called the “Bright-Line Limit.” However, income is subtracted from all unreimbursed medical expenses, including home care, assisted living, or nursing home costs, to arrive at a net income figure.